Cruel and Unusual? Dying in solitary in a New York prison

There are 111 comments on the
www.sevendaysvt.com
story from Dec 18, 2008, titled Cruel and Unusual? Dying in solitary in a New York prison.
In it, www.sevendaysvt.com reports that:

After nearly two decades in prison, Dagnone is still haunted by an incident he witnessed at Upstate a little over a year ago. For two days and nights in December 2004, he listened helplessly as a 19-year-old inmate named Christopher Campos suffered repeated seizures in a nearby cell. Campos later died in the infirmary because the prison's medical staff assumed he was faking it.

Man it sucks the guy died of a known medical condition while in prison but it like it says many medical personnel see so much b/s with inmates they can;t tell the truth from the lies of medical conditions anymore they have tunnel vision. But if this man had been a better person he wouldn't even have been in there to begin with let alone die in prison could have gotten a good job on the outside and bettered himself got medical insurance and would have been under a doctors care.

I read the story of Sal Dagnone, He was in and is still in prison for taking the life of another man. If you believe his story than perhaps you would like to buy a little piece of land I have for sale in Flordia. Dagnone has an axe to grind with NYSDOCS - there is no way that this or anything like this could or would happen. There are far to many safety valves in place to prevent things of this nature.

stan you may have read the story of dagnone, i haven't however if you check the posts here you will find that indeed a young male inmate at upstate correctional facility did die in 2004 from repeated untreated seizures. i believe it was august of '08 that it was a topix discussion.

I hear so many mixed feelings on prisons. I have no ties with them so maybe I will never truely understand, but I seem to agree with James. He made his bed. And if he couldn't behave while in prison (thats why he was sent to upstate) then why would he not hurt or even kill someone when he got out. He obviously had issues that made him unsafe for any community.

so many inmates fake seizure, heart problems and mental dis. for attention or drugs that the med staff have to screen the inmate very well. hey if they made a mistake that happens,but if the inmate was their for 2 days w/o any att. im not buying that. i work a special housing unit, and during a course of a day. you have med. staff go through. you have every rank in corr. staff make rounds including civilian deps. you also have counselers, teachers, preachers plus others. your telling me this man laid on the floor for 2 days and no one said anything, im not buying it. ive seen some cruel shit before, but why would so many want to loose a job over it. i believe if he wanted to die he could w/o anybody noticing it. to let some one just seizure that long didnt happen. hay remember hes in the worst place in the state because he was an a-hole. they also have cameras and listeniong devices.lets put it this way. when i get sick icall my dr. or go to the hospital. woops im not in prison. plus as cold hearted as people think we are, thats not the case. i have saved guys who have tried to hang themselves, and believe me when someone turns blue because of the lack of oxygen you hall ass to do what you can. and im one of the biggest pri--s their is. nock on wood. an inmate can kill himself in mins, so if he wants to die he will.

hey angered/ what did your son do to go to prison. if he were their for maybe murder, you wouldnt be pissed off? what if you knew the person? anyways it didnt happen. and i know you wouldnt kill anyone because of your sons death[god forbid], because guess where you would end up. thats right prison. and i bet you think wow that sucks they may retaliate? listen stuff like that doesnt happen anymore so relax. i would go nuts too, if anyone caused the death of one of my family members

I beg to differ, these types of things can and do happen when people are locked up. I have heard of it where i live and happen to have family that works in the system. I think people should get the medical attention in lock up that they need, and then if needed they should be transported to a local hosp. Now you say that will cost money because so many do fake illness, yes it will cost money, the inmates themselves have to pay here if they indeed fake an illness. This has been a wonderful system in the local jail, they may think twice about telling the C.O. that they need to see the nurse if they have to pay for the lies they like to sometimes tell. Somebody has to help pay for the medical staff and taxpayers are tapped out. So if you end up locked up you pay a portion of your daily cost(s). This means you will work inside, and i might add earn very little. Your money that you earn goes to earn your keep! By the way in NY are they still allowed to smoke?If so that should stop to, they put an end to that here too. So many smokers getting ill and we taxpayers pay for the medical care,in many cases better then we on the outside can get for ourselves and or our family. Just my view(s), nobody has to agree with me, just appreciate the place to express my thoughts.

Maybe what people here are forgetting is that people who are incarcerated are just that - PEOPLE. Flesh and blood like you. I suppose you've never done anything morally wrong? I sure hope so, because only that gives you the right to pass judgement on people who are less fortunate than you are. This discussion shows what this world is missing - empathy. That and pity are much better reactions to this story than derision and hatred. These people act like animals because they're treated like animals, not the human beings they are.

Geez. I got halfway through the story, and clicked "out" on the rest.As a somewhat moderate liberal, I sometimes 'go' for this kind of story. Maybe our penal system could use improvement. I would say it always can, probably.BUT.....you'd do better to pick your fights. This guy Campos was a BAD GUY. My 'pity meter' raised 0.0% reading about this dude. If and when this guy ever got out, we were going to read about a stabbed to death 19 year old pregnant chick, probably Latina. Because she would be 'gang-enamored', not a racist observation.By trying to change the system using the 'lowest common denominator', you hurt your cause.Is it sad that someone was so traumatized and alone their last few hours?Yeah, I suppose so.Did this guy give any indication that he was ever going to be nothing but a violent skunmbagg???NO. In other words, it's a pity that ANYONE has to go like this, but.....IT COULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED TO A NICER GUY.Like I said....if you want to change things for the better, you need to learn how to pick your fights, IMO.

also shannon the inmates dont have any money, the taxpayers pay their bills and always will. also officers have to be careful how he does his job, to let an inmate die. it just doesnt happen. to many skum sucking lawyers to take the case. sue correctional staff. we are always ?ed on any case of abuse and have to answer to it.

The taxpayers here also pay a large bill,however all im saying is that inmates at the local lockup are required to work. If they aren't to much of a risk then they load a county van up,with inmates in orange jumpsuits and orange trash bags. Along side the inmates are 2-3 guards with shot guns! They work to pay for some of the stay,as they should. If they want to run,ok hope you can outrun a shot gun! Now about the comment above,i would like to say i have empathy for all people, and sometimes so much so that i end up getting hurt,due to trusting that ALL can be healed in lockup. I now have been forced to realize that this isn't always the case! However i still haven't given up on my pos. outlook on life, and my prayers for EVERYONE! I want to still believe that the world is full of only good and wonderful things,however at some point in the past year or so i have opened my eyes and have seen some truth. The sad truth is not everyone is good no matter how many people help them,put them up,feed,and or care for. A friend of mine who happens to be a therapist once told me this of a child that was just,wow another story there all together. Anyway he told me "Shannon some kids aren't able to be part of a family" So i take that into consideration now in regards to criminals,in that not all of them can be or even want to be "fixed" and part of a "family",aka the outside world. I mean they can't handle it sometimes. So if they make the choice to go to jail then they will decide when they get there its for them and they will almost feel a sense of belonging to the crowd or this isn't for me and they will do whatever it takes to live rite and get out and back on track.

to liberal for chain gangs, this isnt the south. to many inmates to help get on the right path. plus to much of a neg. att. between welfare and prison mostly ny city, we pay out the a-- for ny city. my solution let the city take care of their own and the north could live a better life. smaller tax base. cheaper to live. the way of life comes from the city. and has a neg impact on everything it touches.

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